According to Berends, a variety of techniques will produce good numbers of two pound class fish right now. "Just choose your weapon," he said. "There's a fantastic crankbait bite throughout the south end of the lake. The drop-shot bite has been wide open and will produce big numbers of fish all day long. We're also flipping fish out of shallow water and the topwater bite has been great at first light."

In years past, Clear Lake continued to produce quality fish during the early fall season, but smaller fish in the 1 to 3 pound class were nowhere to be seen. It was basically feast or famine for most anglers.

"It's just a completely different lake this year and It's actually fun to fish Clear Lake again," said Berends. "You can spend part of the day looking for a big bite without worrying about catching a limit. If things aren't going your way on the big fish, just break out the drop-shot rod or a Rat-L-Trap and you're going to put fish in the boat."

Berends and his team partner Jody Jordan of Vacaville found success when they scored a victory at the latest 100 Percent Bass team tournament two weekends ago with a seven fish bag weighing 26-1/2 pounds.

"That was our final tournament of the season and it was a big win for us since we were leading the points race for Anglers of the Year," he said.

"Our day was a perfect example of the type of fishing your going to find at Clear Lake right now. We caught fish throughout the day using a number of different techniques. We had some topwater fish going early, then caught several fish on drop shot baits around mid morning and eventually got onto some better quality fish throwing crankbaits."

The key to success for Berends has been targeting a combination of rock and weed on the south end of the lake. "If I find the two together, I just know the fish will be there," he explained. "At first light, this is when I'm looking for a quality bite and my best bait has been a black and red Persuader buzzbait fished over 1 to 6 feet of water. Another great early morning bait has been a brown or black jig. With the buzzbait, I'm basically fishing the shallow stuff behind the weedlines and with the jig, I'm working the rock in 5 to 15 feet of water just outside the weedline."

Once the sun is up, the fish will begin pulling tight to the rocks and docks and shade becomes a major factor. "Drop-shotting is now the way to go if you're out to have a fun day, but still want a decent shot at a 4 to 6 pound fish," said Berends.

The crankbait is also scoring on numbers, but is more likely to produce a few more big bites during the course of the day. Berends and Jordan nailed a 5 pounder and a pair of 6 pounders while throwing crankbaits between 10:00 am and noon during their tournament win.

"For drop-shotting, my top baits have been Robo Worms and Berkley Power Worms. When it comes to cranking, the Bill Norman DD 14 is the ticket for big fish and the Lucky Craft LD500 (a lipless crankbait) is the hot bait for numbers. Both crawdad and shad patterns are working equally well," he said.

While Berends has spent most of his time on the south end of Clear Lake, he says the north end has also been producing fish. "That same pattern of rock and weed is also working up north, but you really need to know the lake because there just isn't much rock up there," he explained. "The south end is just a better bet right now and you'll have a lot more fun. I can't think of another lake I'd rather fish in northern California right now."